Wheel for casters, &amp;c.



Patented Aug. 2|, I900.

W. LIVINGSTONE.

WHEEL FOR CASTERS, 8L0.

(Application filed Jan. 24, 1900.)

WITNESSES NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE, OF NEW YORK, iv. AssIcNoR To RoEER'r MURRAY, TRUSTEE, or sA E PLAcE.

WHEEL FOR CASTER'S, s60.

SPEGIFICATIONlforming part of Letters Patent No. 656,358, dated August2l, 1900.

Application filed January 24; 1900. Serial No. 2,662. (No model.)

Improvements in Hollow Wheels for Casters and other Uses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the construction of that class of caster or hanger wheels designated as hollow wheels, being generally made in two cup-shaped sections from sheet-metal blanks by a stamping process and joined withtheir hollow portions communicating and fixed together in various manners.

However simple the process of stamping the two half shells or cups of a hollow wheel may be in itself, the different methods of fastening the same together have hitherto been either complicated and expensive or imperfeet and unreliable, Moreover, it has been demonstrated by practical experience that it is impossible to draw the eyes or hubs in the center of these half-shells sufficiently deep to give anything more than a short and only partial bearing-surface upon the Wheel-pin, which is very detrimental to the wheel on account of the greater wear and tear, whereas this invention refers to a wheel which in combination with a caster-horn for which Letters Patent have been granted to me under dateof February 20, 1900, No. 643,719, is intended to produce a caster in which the usual cutting and shearing strain upon the wheelpin shall be obviated or reduced to its minimum by providing the ends of the tube passing through the central eyes or hubs of the two half shells or cups with conical enlargements corresponding to the conical annular projections on the inner sides of the horn and integral therewith, whereby the conical end bearings of the wheel-tube will revolve upon these conical projections and transmit the weight and strain directly upon the shanks of the horn, while the cylindrical bearing of the wheel-tube upon the wheelpin between the conical end bearings may be considered as secondary or auxiliary and free from all strain and friction.

The object of my invention is to produce a hollow wheel which shall combine the greatest possible strength and simplicity of assembling and looking with the lowest cost of production and the hitherto unattained feature of a complete journal-bearing for the whole length of the wheels axis, in such manner as to remove the weight and strain from the Wheel-pin and transfer the same directly upon the shank of the horn.

The object of my invention and the method of construction, as hereinafter fully described, I attain by means of a tube passing through and being swaged out to fill the conical or tapering holes in the eyes of the halfshells, and thereby riveting the same closely together, while the hole in the tube will be the journal-bearing for the whole length of the wheel-pin-namely, conical at the ends and cylindrical between. For larger wheels carrying greater weight and requiring greater strength I employ in addition to the central tube a strengthening ring provided with prongs, which passing through corresponding perforations in the sides of the half-shells and clenched outside of the same will not only hold the two half-shells tightly together near the line of their extreme periphery, but will give to the rims of the half-shells an additional thickness and support on their inner circumferences, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an end view of wheel complete, showing the prongs of the strengthening-ring clenched on the outside. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same, showing the two half-shells joined together in the center line and the prongs of the strengthening-ring clenched on the outside. Fig. 3 is a central section of the same, showing the central tube passing through the eyes or hubs of the half-shells and clenched to correspond to the conical enlargement of the outer ends of the eyes and the strengthening-ring with its prongs passing through the perforated sides of the halfshells clenched on the outside. Fig. 4t is a Fig. 5 is a plan View of before it is bent.

the blank from which the strengthening-ring is to be formed, showing position of prongs Fig. 6 is an end View of the strengthening-ring, showing the position of the prongs after it is bent. Fig. 7 is a half front view and half section of the same with prongs extending. Fig. Sis an end view of a small wheel. Fig. 9 is a'half front'view and half section of the same, showing central tube passing through the eye and clenched against the conical enlargement thereof. Fig

10 is a plan view of a half-shell of the same- Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

W is the complete wheel. '20 w are the two half-shells composing the same.

R is the strengthening-ring. r 1" are the prongs of the same, and r r are the corresponding perforations in the sides of the halfshells, and T is the central tube passing through the eyes of the half-shells.

Referring to the drawings, the wheel consists of two half shells or cups w 10, ex! actly alike, a central tube T passing through the eyes of the half-shellsand clenched on the outside thereof against the conical enlargement of the eyes, whereby the two halfshells become firmly riveted together, and an inner strengthening-ring R,with prongs rr fit.- ting into and passing through corresponding perforations r 1" in the sidesof the half-shells and clenched on the outside thereof. The number of prongs and perforation-s will probably depend npon the size of the wheel, a1- through I have preferred to make them four for the circumference of the wheel, as illus tr ted in the drawings.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A caster or hanger wheel consisting of tworhalf-shells with perforationsin their sides and a strengthening-fin g provided with prongs, in such position and of such dimensions as to correspond with and pass through.

and extend beyond the perforations of the f their peri heral edges toward each other and having central eyes or hubs projecting inwardly, the outer ends of which eyes or hubs are conically enlarged, a central tube '1 pass ingthrough the eyes or hubs and having its ends inwardly tapering at the place where the eyes or hubs'taper for a sufficient dis- "tance to'form: conical bearings adapted to receive projections on the horns of a caster, and a cylindrical portion intervening between the conical enlargements, whereby there will be provided conical enlargements at the ends of the tube conformably to and cqllesponding with the conical projections of the caster-horn, thereby providing conical end beariugsfor the wheel directly upon the projections of the horn without strain upon the wheel-pin.

3. A hollow caster or hanger wheel consisting of two half-shells with their peripheral edges in contact and having inwardly-extending eyes or hubs with tapering bores adapted to. receive and retainthe cylindrical tube T having tapered ends, each of the said halfshells having perforations in its sides to receive lugs and 'a lugged strengthening me.m her R located within the. caster-wheel and having its lugs pass through the apertures in the sides of the'half-shellsand upset again-st t-heouter faces thereof.

Siigned at New York city, in the county of I\TewYork and State of; New York, this 29th day of November, A. D. 1899.

WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE. Witnesses;

F. B; MULooX,

Mrs. L. V. HANLEY. 

